USA cold rolled coil prices moved higher into early March, driven by steady end-user buying and constrained import arbitrage that kept domestic mills in a position to press premiums. Early February saw calm, incremental buying from core fabrication sectors; late February volumes held as service centers rebuilt and manufacturers prepared for spring work. By the first week of March, momentum increased as inventories tightened to hand-to-mouth levels at distributors and automotive line rates remained seasonally steady. Meanwhile, geopolitical risk around Middle East shipping lanes and firmer freight and insurance costs added a near-term upside risk to landed coil costs, supporting mill pricing power into March.
Cold rolled coil demand patterns provided a mixed support to prices: automotive assemblies 鈥� roughly one-third of cold rolled coil consumption 鈥� and appliance/HVAC fabricators kept order books intact, while residential construction was muted by elevated mortgage costs. This...
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